“And after that.”
“……”
“Let’s forget what’s inside your belly, too.”
At that moment, Eunho’s movements stopped dead. Even his breathing couldn’t be heard.
Eyes wide, Eunho pulled away. His expression said he couldn’t believe what he had just heard.
I—I must’ve misheard.
Everything had been fine until now. He said the baby was healthy. He hugged me. After stiffening for a moment, Eunho pretended he hadn’t heard and leaned his head back against Yi-beom’s chest. Then Yi-beom dropped the words again, like a hammer.
“I already filled out the surgery request form, so we’ll set a date for tomorrow or the day after.”
“……”
Just as another bomb dropped, the hospital room door burst open with a loud bang. Someone rushed inside.
Eunho’s saviors.
“Hyung-nim!”
Jinwon and Younguk, who had been waiting anxiously outside the room, ran in. They had told him several times to wait until Eunho stabilized before talking about it! The moment the word surgery left Yi-beom’s mouth, they stormed in as if on cue.
As expected, Eunho looked like he was about to collapse. Jesus, this is driving me insane. In that brief second, Jinwon and Younguk exchanged a look.
“Let’s step outside and talk.”
Younguk approached Yi-beom and grabbed his arm. Yi-beom’s expression twisted instantly.
“The person concerned is right here. Why would we go out?”
“Good grief, do you think Student Eunho is in any state to hear that right now?”
Following Younguk’s gaze, Yi-beom turned his head toward Eunho. His face was paper white. He looked even more drained of color than when he had barely been breathing with an oxygen mask on.
“You shouldn’t say something like that to someone who just woke up.”
Jinwon, standing by Eunho’s side, also separated the two men. Then he stepped in front of Eunho, blocking Yi-beom so he couldn’t lunge forward again.
“You can say that after looking at this face, President?”
“……”
“Really? I mean, conscience—well, you never had that. But at least there’s such a thing as common sense.”
“……There isn’t time.”
“Even so, please delay it a little.”
No one understood better than Yi-beom that Eunho needed time. A kid who was scared to even step outside the neighborhood had run away—meaning the baby in his belly meant that much to him.
Even so, his heart kept growing impatient. The sentences written on the chart Professor Hwang had handed him refused to leave his mind.
“There’s no time for that.”
“President!”
The standoff between Yi-beom and Jinwon continued. Normally, Jinwon would have bowed his head and yielded with a simple “Yes, sir,” but this time he didn’t back down.
Tension thickened the hospital room. Then, a small voice broke the silence.
“Ahjussi.”
Dull, lifeless eyes turned toward Yi-beom.
“Go. Out of here.”
“……”
“Go.”
It was a clear order to leave. When Yi-beom turned his head, Eunho had already averted his gaze toward a corner of the room. His dry lips were curled inward again, like he was about to bite them.
As Yi-beom moved his hand toward his mouth, Eunho flinched and turned his head away.
“……”
Silence lingered. After pushing him away like that, his trembling eyes made it obvious he was already blaming himself for going too far. Letting out a deep sigh, Yi-beom placed a hand on Eunho’s head.
“I’ll go. Get some rest.”
Soon, the weight pressing down on Eunho’s body disappeared. Yi-beom and Younguk left, and once the door closed, Jinwon approached, muttering quietly to himself.
He straightened the tangled blankets and pillows, then glanced up at the IV bag. Not much left. As he frowned and was about to call a nurse—
Eunho grabbed the hem of Jinwon’s clothes with a trembling hand.
“Secretary Ahjussi……”
The voice sounded like it might snap at any moment, and something in Jinwon’s chest stung sharply. Kneeling on one knee, he met Eunho’s eyes.
“Yes, is there something you want to ask?”
“Chanwoo… and… Sobin-ssi…?”
Jinwon’s lips parted slightly. He couldn’t bring himself to say that, by Yi-beom’s orders, both of them were currently detained—and that at least they hadn’t been beaten. He really shouldn’t let the President’s image drop any further. As Jinwon hesitated, Eunho added,
“It’s okay. They’re safe, right?”
“Yes. For now.”
For now. At the moment, they were only tied up because Yi-beom was mindful of Eunho’s condition… Jinwon looked at Eunho’s pale face and thought,
If Student Eunho faints again, he might put a bullet in them.
There was no need to tell someone who had just regained consciousness that. Watching Eunho relax in relief, Jinwon’s gaze turned complicated.
“Student Eunho.”
“Yes……”
Recalling the chart from Professor Hwang, Jinwon hesitated. No matter how he thought about it, terminating the pregnancy was the best option. It would strain Eunho’s body—a herbivore Beastman—and with tensions between herbivores and carnivores like now, there was no telling how this child would be received.
But he couldn’t bring himself to say those words to Eunho. In the end, Jinwon changed direction.
“……I’ll speak to the President separately about the two of them.”
“Thank you.” The weak reply followed.
***
For a while, neither Yi-beom, nor Jinwon, nor Younguk came into the hospital room.
Maybe they had given him a sedative; drowsiness kept overwhelming him. After sleeping for a long time again, he woke up to bright daylight outside. It wasn’t another two days, was it? Eunho stretched his legs out of the room.
Perhaps because the sunlight was nice, there were many people along the hospital’s walking path. Watching them chatting cozily together, Eunho pressed his eyes shut tightly.
I want to take a walk with Ahjussi…
Thinking about the last time he had seen his face made his heart uneasy.
No. I shouldn’t think bad thoughts.
It might not be good for the baby. A nurse who changed his IV had whispered that the baby in the womb could hear all of the mother’s thoughts. She had only added it because Eunho looked so depressed, but Eunho believed it completely.
Slowly stroking his lower abdomen, Eunho looked outside again. In one corner of the park, children were running around. Judging by the identical hospital gowns, they were likely patients from the pediatric ward.
Bright, ringing laughter drifted in through the window. Our baby will play like that someday, right? The thought made him feel a little better.
When he opened the hospital room door, no one was there. That couldn’t be right. Eunho looked around the hallway.
“Ah……”
Only then did he spot Yi-beom outside on the terrace. In front of him, the organization members guarding the room stood in a neat line.
Ahjussi came.
His steps automatically started toward Yi-beom—then he stopped.
And then what?
It would just repeat again. Yi-beom would tell him to sign the surgery consent form, and he would refuse. He couldn’t kill the baby.
Changing his mind, Eunho turned around. Pushing the IV stand along with a soft rattling sound, he headed toward the elevator. Fortunately, with no organization members around, the nurse didn’t stop him.
Once outside, his mood lifted. Eunho took a seat where he could clearly see the children. Their laughter sounded louder than it had from inside the room. Whatever was so fun, they climbed on animal-shaped statues, hung from them, smacked them playfully, and ran around energetically.
I hope our baby is that lively. If they take after their mom, they’ll be really good at running.
Because their mom is a rabbit… Eunho gently rubbed his belly.
Or maybe not? Since their dad’s a tiger, maybe taking after him would make them faster?
The speed of a predator and a herbivore probably couldn’t even be compared. He had never seen Yi-beom run in his tiger form, but he was probably faster than Eunho.
If it were that tiger cub from his dream… it might cry for its mom before even trying to run.
“Pfft.”
Just imagining those round little eyes made him smile.
“A-Ajussii!”
When he looked up, he saw a child running toward him. The toddler waddled so unsteadily it looked like he might fall at any second, and without realizing it, Eunho stretched out both hands.
“W-Waaah!”
Sure enough, the child’s body tilted. In that instant, strong arms wrapped around the child.
“You’ve got to be careful.”
“Waaah!”
Yi-beom muttered as he lifted the child up. The kid, having already forgotten he had almost fallen, squealed at the higher view.
“Woooow! It’s high!”
“Want to go higher?”
The child nodded vigorously, and Yi-beom hoisted him onto his shoulders.
“Doesn’t even know what fear is. Just like someone.”
Most of them start crying the moment they see my face. Smirking, Yi-beom lifted the child up and down. Each time, the muscles of his biceps swelled and tightened.
“Again, again!”
“You want me to do it again?”
“Yeees!”
Leaving the bright-eyed child staring at him, Yi-beom turned his head toward Eunho.
“Baby.”
“Yeees?”
The child in his arms answered instead, and Yi-beom burst into laughter. Then he gently ruffled the child’s hair. The sight looked astonishingly natural.
“Not you. Ahjussi has a baby.”
“A baby? Huh? There isn’t one?”
The child looked around. His gaze briefly landed on Eunho, then he quickly turned his head again, searching for this mysterious baby. At that, Eunho’s face flushed redder and redder.
“There is.”
“Must be at home!” the child concluded on his own and reached out to Yi-beom again.
After a few more rounds of being bounced up and down, the child finally returned to his mother, holding her hand.
Eunho, who had kept his head down the whole time, fidgeted with his lips.
Calling me baby in front of a baby!
He was so embarrassed he wanted to crawl into a hole. Yi-beom came and sat down beside him.
